Transcript of Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of
Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities
within the territory thereof: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of
ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of
ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers
to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such
suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having
so come after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United
States.

SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the
United States on such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer,
from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine
of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer
so brought, and maybe also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.

SEC. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese laborers
who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred
and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act,
and who shall produce to such master before going on board such vessel, and
shall produce to the collector of the port in the United States at which such
vessel shall arrive, the evidence hereinafter in this act required of his being
one of the laborers in this section mentioned; nor shall the two foregoing sections
apply to the case of any master whose vessel, being bound to a port not within
the United States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the United States by
reason of being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port
of the United States on its voyage to any foreign port or place: Provided, That all Chinese
laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with the vessel on leaving port.

SEC. 4. That for the purpose of properly identifying Chinese laborers who were
in the United States on the seventeenth day of November eighteen hundred and
eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety
days next after the passage of this act, and in order to furnish them with the
proper evidence of their right to go from and come to the United States of their
free will and accord, as provided by the treaty between the United States and
China dated November seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector
of customs of the district from which any such Chinese laborer shall depart
from the United States shall, in person or by deputy, go on board each vessel
having on board any such Chinese laborers and cleared or about to sail from
his district for a foreign port, and on such vessel make a list of all such
Chinese laborers, which shall be entered in registry-books to be kept for that
purpose, in which shall be stated the name, age, occupation, last place of residence,
physical marks of peculiarities, and all facts necessary for the identification
of each of such Chinese laborers, which books shall be safely kept in the custom-house.;
and every such Chinese laborer so departing from the United States shall be
entitled to, and shall receive, free of any charge or cost upon application
therefor, from the collector or his deputy, at the time such list is taken,
a certificate, signed by the collector or his deputy and attested by his seal
of office, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, which
certificate shall contain a statement of the name, age, occupation, last place
of residence, persona description, and facts of identification of the Chinese
laborer to whom the certificate is issued, corresponding with the said list
and registry in all particulars. In case any Chinese laborer after having received
such certificate shall leave such vessel before her departure he shall deliver
his certificate to the master of the vessel, and if such Chinese laborer shall
fail to return to such vessel before her departure from port the certificate
shall be delivered by the master to the collector of customs for cancellation.
The certificate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese laborer to whom
the same is issued to return to and re-enter the United States upon producing
and delivering the same to the collector of customs of the district at which
such Chinese laborer shall seek to re-enter; and upon delivery of such certificate
by such Chinese laborer to the collector of customs at the time of re-entry
in the United States said collector shall cause the same to be filed in the
custom-house anti duly canceled.

SEC. 5. That any Chinese laborer mentioned in section four of this act being
in the United States, and desiring to depart from the United States by land,
shall have the right to demand and receive, free of charge or cost, a certificate
of identification similar to that provided for in section four of this act to
be issued to such Chinese laborers as may desire to leave the United States
by water; and it is hereby made the duty of the collector of customs of the
district next adjoining the foreign country to which said Chinese laborer desires
to go to issue such certificate, free of charge or cost, upon application by
such Chinese laborer, and to enter the same upon registry-books to be kept by
him for the purpose, as provided for in section four of this act.

SEC. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of articles one and two of
the treaty in this act before mentioned, every Chinese person other than a laborer
who may be entitled by said treaty and this act to come within the United States,
and who shall be about to come to the United States, shall be identified as
so entitled by the Chinese Government in each case, such identity to be evidenced
by a certificate issued under the authority of said government, which certificate
shall be in the English language or (if not in the English language) accompanied
by a translation into English, stating such right to come, and which certifi-
cate shall state the name, title or official rank, if any, the age, height,
and all physical peculiarities, former and present occupation or profes- sion,
and place of residence in China of the person to whom the certificate is issued
and that such person is entitled, conformably to the treaty in this act mentioned
to come within the United States. Such certifi- cate shall be prima-facie evidence
of the fact set forth therein, and shall be produced to the collector of customs,
or his deputy, of the port in the district in the United States at which the
person named therein shall arrive.

SEC.7. That any person who shall knowingly and falsely alter or substitute
any name for the name written in such certificate or forge any such certificate,
or knowingly utter any forged or fraudulent certificate, or falsely personate
any person named in any such certificate, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor;
and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand
dollars, and imprisoned in a penitentiary for a term of not more than five years.

SEC.8. That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any
foreign port or place shall, at the same time he delivers a manifest of the
cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the time of making a report of the
entry of the vessel pursuant to law, in addition to the other matter required
to be reported, and before landing, or permitting to land, any Chinese passengers,
deliver and report to the collector of customs of the district in which such
vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all Chinese passengers taken on
board his vessel at any foreign port or place, and all such passengers on board
the vessel at that time. Such list shall show the names of such passengers (and
if accredited officers of the Chinese Government traveling on the business of
that government, or their servants, with a note of such facts), and the names
and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates; and such list
shall be sworn to by the master in the manner required by law in relation to
the manifest of the cargo. Any willful refusal or neglect of any such master
to comply with the provisions of this section shall incur the same penalties
and forfeiture as are provided for a refusal or neglect to report and deliver
a manifest of the cargo.

SEC. 9. That before any Chinese passengers are landed from any such line vessel,
the collector, or his deputy, shall proceed to examine such passenger, comparing
the certificate with the list and with the passengers ; and no passenger shall
be allowed to land in the United States from such vessel in violation of law.

SEC.10. That every vessel whose master shall knowingly violate any of the provisions
of this act shall be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall be liable
to seizure and condemnation in any district of the United States into which
such vessel may enter or in which she may be found.

SEC. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring into or cause to be brought
into the United States by land, or who shall knowingly aid or abet the same,
or aid or abet the landing in the United States from any vessel of any Chinese
person not lawfully entitled to enter the United States, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding
one thousand dollars, and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.

SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States
by land without producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate in
this act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. And any
Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to
be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came, by direction of the
President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after
being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the
United States and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the
United States.

SEC.13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the
Chinese Government traveling upon the business of that govern- ment, whose credentials
shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and shall
exempt them and their body and house- hold servants from the provisions of this
act as to other Chinese persons.

SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall
admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.

SEC.15. That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this
act shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese
employed in mining.